millions of children.

They looked very inviting this morning, the River and the Canal, and
Marmaduke decided he would take a stroll. He whistled to Wienerwurst,
who was always the best company in the world, and the little dog came
leaping and barking and wagging his tail, glad to be alive and about
in such lovely weather, and on they went by the side of the Canal.

They went along very slowly, for it is a mistake to walk too fast on a
Spring morning--one misses so many things.

Now and then a big fish would leap out of the River, it felt so gay,
and in the little harbours under the banks of the Canal the
scuttle-bugs went skimming, skimming, like swift little tugboats at
play. In the fields on the other side of the road a meadowlark sang;
swallows twittered overhead; and in the grass at his feet the
dandelions glowed like the round gold shields of a million soldiers.
Yes, altogether it was a wonderful day.

Marmaduke picked a great bouquet of the dandelions--for Mother--then
he looked up the towpath. He could see the Red Schoolhouse, and, not
so far away, the Lock of the Canal. He was very glad it was Saturday.
It was far too nice to stay indoors.

Just then he had a great piece of good luck, for a big boat came by, a
canal-boat, shaped like a long wooden shoe. It had no sails and no
smokestacks, either, so it had no engine to make it go. It was drawn
by two mules who walked on shore quite a distance ahead of it. A long
thick rope stretched from the collars of the mules to the bow of the
boat. A little boy walked behind the mules, yelling to them and now